Graaff-Reinet man jailed for 14 years for molesting girls

A Graaff-Reinet man who performed sex acts on young girls after feeding them alcohol, has been sentenced to an effective 14 years’ imprisonment.

William Rudman, 66, was arrested by the Graaff-Reinet family violence, child protection and sexual offences unit in 2021 after being exposed on social media.

Rudman had enticed young girls to visit his home in exchange for gifts, money, cellphones, food, alcohol, cigarettes and dagga with the intention of sexually exploiting them.

The victims were aged between 12 and 16 at the time.

Between May and October 2021, his acts were exposed on social media.

He later appeared in the Somerset East Magistrate’s Court where he was released on bail of R1,000.

The matter was then transferred to the Gqeberha serious organised crime investigation unit’s human trafficking team for further probing.

Hawks spokesperson Lieutenant-Colonel Avele Fumba said the investigation revealed that Rudman had conned the young girls into becoming his friends.

“He would invite the girls to his house where he enticed them with a variety of gifts and then molested them while they were intoxicated,” Fumba said.

After several court appearances, Rudman was finally convicted and sentenced in the Makhanda high court on Friday.

Hawks provincial head Major-General Mboiki Obed Ngwenya expressed satisfaction with the sentence.

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